The Story Keeper

The Story Keeper is one of Lisa Wingate’s earlier novels in her Carolina Heirlooms series, contemporary fiction that uses the discovery of old documents to bridge the present day and a forgotten chapter of American history. Wingate would go on to write the bestselling Before We Were Yours about the Tennessee Children’s Home Society scandal, but the technique of weaving together a contemporary story and a historical mystery was already her signature in this earlier work.

The novel follows Jennia Beth Gibbs, a successful New York book editor who returns home to the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina after the discovery of an old manuscript pulls her back into a world she had spent her adult life avoiding. The manuscript appears to tell the story of Sarra, a young woman of mixed Melungeon ancestry living in the same mountains in the late nineteenth century, and the parallels between Sarra’s story and the secrets Jennia Beth’s own family has been keeping start to suggest connections that go deeper than coincidence. The Melungeons, an isolated community of mixed European, African, and Native American ancestry whose origins remain debated, give the book one of the more interesting historical hooks in this kind of dual timeline fiction.

Wingate writes accessible Christian inflected fiction that handles its religious elements with a light touch rather than overt evangelism. Her readership crosses over significantly with general historical fiction readers who may not share her faith perspective but appreciate her storytelling. The Carolina settings are rendered with affection, the cultural material on the Melungeons is well researched, and the dual timeline structure builds toward a resolution that earns its emotional weight.

For readers who came to Wingate through Before We Were Yours, going back to The Story Keeper offers an earlier example of the storytelling she would later refine. For new readers, the book is a comfortable introduction to her style and a good entry point into her wider catalogue.